Why is the 'Church of Christ' sometimes called a cult?

[eric]

What is it with people pulling up old threads?????

Nothing better to do I suppose

[Scarletprayers]

What is it with people pulling up old threads?????

Nothing better to do I suppose

I guess........................

[Fiosh]

What is it with people pulling up old threads?????

I paid him to do it just to annoy you.

[Scarletprayers]

What is it with people pulling up old threads?????

I paid him to do it just to annoy you.

You probably did................

[Fiosh]

What is it with people pulling up old threads?????

I paid him to do it just to annoy you.

You probably did................

btw......i've got an inside scoop for you, scarlet. After the service on Sunday, don't drink the grape Kool-aid!

[Scarletprayers]

What is it with people pulling up old threads?????

I paid him to do it just to annoy you.

You probably did................

btw......i've got an inside scoop for you, scarlet. After the service on Sunday, don't drink the grape Kool-aid!

Look who's talking..........................

[antiaging]

They are considered a cult because they maintain that baptism is a necessary requirement for salvation and that proper baptism must be by immersion in the Church of Christ. Such a teaching is false and dangerous because it effectively retains the keys to salvation and can use them to control and manipulate their church members. Nevertheless, they quote verses such as John 3:5 (see related paper) and Acts 2:38 (see related paper) as proof of their position. In so doing, they ignore the numerous Scriptures to teach us that salvation is by grace through faith (John 5:24; Acts 13:38-39; Gal. 2:16; 3:26; Rom. 3:24; 4:5; 5:1; 5:9;9:30; 10:10; Eph. 2:8; Phil. 3:9; etc.)

You see, this is why we have a bad name. We do not ignore the verses that you have written. We couple them with baptism. What you are doing is basing you belief only on those verses and leaving baptism out. I have said many, many, many, many times before that all of these scriptures work together and you cannot leave any out.

If all we need was grace and faith then why did Christ command the Apostles this -

Mark 16:15-16 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

Matthew 28:19-20 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

According to Christ they were to teach whatever he commanded them and baptism is one of the things he commanded them to do.

We don't see here Christ telling them to go all over the world telling everybody they are saved by grace through faith.

Another example -

Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

Did Peter tell them to accept Christ in their hearts as their Lord and personal savior because we are saved by grace through faith? NO, he did not. He told them this -

Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

According to Christ and Peter baptism is a commandment, but to many others it is not necessary because you think it takes away from faith and grace. Well, because of our faith we partake of God's grace by being baptized for the remission of sins.

Look how that Peter told them to be baptized for the remission of sins and 3,000 people were baptized. We follow this doctrine. In the waters of baptism we receive the remission of our sins, are buried and resurrected with Christ, put on Christ, and receive the gift of the HS through our faith. By the grace of God he has allowed this be possible.

I went to a church of Christ church several times. I agreed with their doctrine except for you need to be baptized to be saved. The thief on the cross was not baptized and Jesus said that He would be with him in paradise. A person can get saved in a hospital, on his death bed, with no possibility of getting baptized, by accepting Jesus as Lord and repenting of sin.

Or in the middle of a desert with no water left, before he dies, he can get saved.

However, there is a scripture that says:

James 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

In view of that, I was thinking that if a person knows that he should be baptized then he certainly should do it. Neglecting to do it may be considered sinful in view of James 4:17. You are saved by grace through faith, but you must also repent of sin.

You don't earn salvation by doing good works. Repenting is trying to NOT DO bad works. I decided that this doctrine that they have, about baptism, would probably prevent them from trying to save dying people because they could not get baptized. That doctrine therefore may have caused some to be lost who otherwise could have gotten saved.

Mark 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

Note: It does not say, but he that is baptized not shall be damned. If that were true the thief on the cross should not have gone to paradise.

I don't care about not having music, that is just a personal preference.

But I don't think they had toilet facilities for the people to use. I actually heard one of the speakers bring up the question of whether or not they should have toilet facilities in the church.

The bible don't say anything about that one way or the other. But it seems to me that if they don't provide toilet facilities they will always have small congregations. I also think it is sort of uncharitable to not provide toilet facilities for the people.

Edited September 17, 2007 by antiaging

[Scarletprayers]

I don't care about not having music, that is just a personal preference.

But I don't think they had toilet facilities for the people to use. I actually heard one of the speakers bring up the question of whether or not they should have toilet facilities in the church.

The bible don't say anything about that one way or the other. But it seems to me that if they don't provide toilet facilities they will always have small congregations. I also think it is sort of uncharitable to not provide toilet facilities for the people.

I started not to answer this.............but really, I've been CoC for over 50 years, and I've NEVER been in one without facilities before. As for small congregations, mine has over 4000 members.

[damo1]

from damo1

May be it is because of these other groups such as the Brethren Exclusive ones as well the jehovah Witness when these Cults are plastered threw the paper and the local Tv

others that do not know nothing about us or what goes on inside a True Church Will look at us Christians and Think we are just like Them

i have had to Explain Several times my self that Our Church Christian Out Reach Center is not a Cult and people will not get taken Advantage off

yet the Ones i pointed Out are Cults and they have Nothing to do with what we Believe in

i could have jotted down more as i love looking at groups like this as it just amazes me to what Rubbish they Preach to there members

the Mormans Are a Cult as well and hear in Australia they are based every wear and we have fun with these guys i have prevented them from door knocking in my street and it worked very well as me Being the only Christian i did not want to see my Neigbours Being Taken Advantage of

it is these Groups that give the Body of christ a bad name

blessings from damo1

[damo1]

from damo1

i hope every one can read what i have shared as i am learning how to use this computer and also express my self as well

i forgot to Mention i know what the Church of Christ belives in and they are not a Cult i should have said this in my other post as i have sevral freinds hear in armidale who go to the Church of Christ one being a Chirstian who is a detective with in the new south wales police force and sevral Close brothers in the Church of Christ in Canberra ACT as well

though they have the same problems people mis take them for being a Cult as to what i pointed out in my other post these are very lovely people who care about others

i often pray for my friend who i mentioned and also help Out at a Youth Center he runs we work in very well so you have nothing to worry about

Hear in my Town we are working Together in uniTy and for a long Time the other Churches would not have dared to Work Together in UniTy like the way we are hear in Armidale as we have been watching the Transforming tapes that other Churches are Using

we have Combined prayer meetings Together Every Month and we Take Turns praying in different Churches and There are Even Charismatic Catholics as well Coming to These Combined prayer Meetings as they are Seeing that there has to be more to what they have been told by the bishops and the priests and are starting to Challenge with in

right now we have a 40 hr prayer and fast for Armidale and it finishes in october the 8th and then we have a big get together and share what the lord has been doing in our churches and of course answerd prayers as well we do this Each year wear Locals put in What they would like us to pray for in our town and the banner and book has just been passed on to the church of christ as we all sign our names in this book so our church just passed this on to the church of christ

so as i said you have nothing to fear of it is these other groups i mentioned in my other post hear that need to be challanged on what they are preaching and doing to inocent people as they are cults more than what the church of christ is

blessings from damo1